No Free Hugs In Conservative Saudi Arabia

Lamenting there is no such thing as a free hug in Saudi Arabia, Saudi tweeters campaigned Wednesday for the release of a young local whose appearance on a Riyadh street with a sign saying “free hug” launched a short-lived flurry of light-hearted embracing across the not-normally fun-filled kingdom.

Free-hugger Bandar al-Swaid as of Wednesday had been missing for four days and believed detained by authorities, friends and activists said. There was no official confirmation or comment, and Riyadh police did not immediately respond to an email Wednesday regarding Mr. Swaid’s whereabouts.

Wearing a bright-yellow hoodie and wielding a hand-lettered sign with the message “Free Hug”, Mr. Swaid on November 19 walked down the sidewalks of Riyadh’s Thalia Street, a boulevard of cafes and restaurants where young Saudi men and women traditionally attempt much of what furtive amount of public flirting occurs in the Saudi capital.

A friend filmed Mr. Swaid as other young Saudi men ran up for quick back pats, embraces, or in one case, a full-run jump into Mr. Swaid’s arms.

In a country where religious police — known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice — rigorously enforce separation of the sexes, women were markedly absent from the hug fest. Religious police and Saudi conservatives in general often condemn practices that they see as Western liberalisms contrary to Saudi Arabia’s strict interpretation of Islam.

By Wednesday, all signs urging hugging, smiling or kissing were off Saudi Arabia’s streets, and the video of Mr. Swaid’s embraceable walk was removed from YouTube. None of those who had posted videos of themselves committing public displays of affection responded this week to requests for comment.

On Twitter, some opponents of Mr. Swaid’s campaign condemned his act as a sexual deviation. Scores of supporters lamented his disappearance, citing other cases in the kingdom in which they said violent offenders had gotten off lightly.

“Is it reasonable to imprison a young man who broadcasts a peaceful campaign of love and tolerance?” asked one woman on Twitter. “This is a crime now?” wrote another, next to a photo of Mr. Swaid in a bear hug on Thalia Street.